Straight Up Bořeň

A short, steep 13 km hike over Kaňkov and up the Bořeň monolith, finishing at the Bílina railway station.

From the Želenice rail stop the route first takes Kaňkov, the wooded hill directly opposite Bořeň — worth it because the north-west side is where Bořeň does its trick and turns into a lying lion on the skyline. Don’t let the modest distance fool you: with over 550 m of climbing packed in, this short hike walks like a big one.

Then the main event. The trail drops to the valley and takes the monolith head-on: the upper section climbs through the rock terrain of the nature reserve, hands out of the pockets, until the summit plateau opens the full circle — Krušné hory across the basin, the Středohoří cones east, the mining country sprawling west. In autumn the steppe slopes turn gold and the light comes in low across the rock.

The descent lands you in Bílina with its square and railway station — trains towards Ústí and Most, and Prague with one change.